| SB 30 w/ SA 2 | Signed | Huxtable | This Act clarifies what constitutes a sawmill under Delaware law and adds definitions related to agriculture and silviculture. This Act recognizes forest products as unadulterated materials and makes clear their importance to support a thriving industry that maintains sustainable and healthy forests. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SILVICULTURE. |
| SB 3 w/ HA 2 | Defeated | Brown | This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to eliminate the limitations on when an individual may vote absentee and authorizes the General Assembly to enact general laws providing the circumstances, rules, and procedures for absentee voting in this State. This Act is in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Albence v. Higgins, 2022 Del. LEXIS 377 (Del. 2022).
This Act requires all absentee ballots to include an oath or affirmation that the qualified voter’s vote is free from improper influence. This oath or affirmation is in lieu of the oath or affirmation required under Section 3 of Article V of the Delaware Constitution.
Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution. | AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE V OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO VOTING. |
| SB 75 | Signed | Hansen | This Act amends §134, Title 17 of the Delaware Code to allow for Secretary’s designee to sign traffic resolutions within incorporated towns and cities. The same authority already exists for traffic resolutions in unincorporated areas. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO AUTHORITY IN INCORPORATED TOWNS AND CITIES; CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF HIGHWAYS. |
| SB 76 | Signed | Hansen | This Act amends §1311, Title 17 of the Delaware Code to allow for the Delaware Department of Transportation to vacate an old right of way of a newly realigned section of road by resolution. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO VACATION OF PUBLIC ROADS BY ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION. |
| SB 97 | Signed | Sokola | In 1995, the General Assembly directed the Code Revisors to gender neutralize or otherwise ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation never occurs unless it could only apply to one gender. The Code Revisors followed this direction and worked to ensure that laws enacted after 1995 were gender neutralized during the codification process. The Code Revisors also began working through the Delaware Code in existence in 1995 to gender neutralize existing law, a process that is not yet complete.
Since 1995, the more common legislative drafting technique is to draft laws so that they are gender silent. Gender silent drafting techniques include substituting the noun for which the masculine or feminine pronoun refers. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.” This technique has the added benefit of providing clarity as many times use of multiple masculine or feminine pronouns can result in confusion as to which noun the pronouns refer.
This Act serves two purposes. First, Section 1 of this Act directs and authorizes the Code Revisors to use gender silent techniques to ensure masculine or feminine pronouns are not used in Delaware Code unless the usage requires otherwise. Second, the goal of Sections 2 through 141 of this Act is to complete the process of removing purely masculine pronouns by using gender silent techniques, except in instances where it could not be determined which noun the masculine pronoun applied to. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 1, TITLE 2, TITLE 3, TITLE 4, TITLE 5, TITLE 7, TITLE 12, TITLE 16, TITLE 25, TITLE 26, TITLE 27, TITLE 28, TITLE 29, TITLE 30, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO GENDER SILENCING THE DELAWARE CODE. |
| SS 1 for SB 80 | Signed | S. McBride | Senate Bill No. 80 codifies the current practice in Delaware of not requiring proof of citizenship or a specific immigration status on an application for a professional license. By affirmatively providing eligibility for professional licenses regardless of immigration status, Senate Bill No. 80 brings Delaware into compliance with a federal requirement in place since August 22, 1996, under 8 U.S.C.S. § 1621(d), and provides public notice of this policy. Senate Bill No. 80 also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 80 differs from Senate Bill No. 80 by also codifying the current practice of allowing an applicant for a professional license who does not have a social security number to submit instead, an attestation stating that if the applicant obtains a social security number in the future, the applicant will update their application with that social security number. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO IMMIGRATION STATUS REQUIREMENTS FOR PROFESSIONAL LICENSES. |
| HCR 42 | Passed | Longhurst | This Concurrent Resolution recognizes the month of May 2023 as Mental Health Awareness Month. | RECOGNIZING THE MONTH OF MAY 2023 AS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH. |
| HCR 43 | Passed | Shupe | This Resolution recognizes May 3, 2023, as "World Press Freedom Day". | RECOGNIZING MAY 3, 2023, AS “WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY” IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
| SA 2 to SB 30 | Passed | Huxtable | This Amendment makes clear that the exemption does not apply in the coastal zone, as defined in § 7002(i), Title 7 of the Coastal Zone Act. | |
